Aug 29 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Harvey has set a rainfall record for tropical cyclones for the continental United States, with 49.32 inches (125.3 cm) of rain observed at a location southeast of Houston, the National Weather Service said on Tuesday.

The previous record for the lower 48 states was established in 1978 by cyclone Amelia, in Medina, Texas, according to the NWS Houston Twitter account. A NWS advisory released earlier on Tuesday said the record was for Texas.

The record for a cyclone in what is now the entire United States was set in 1950, when Hurricane Hiki dropped 52 inches of rain on Hawaii, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Hawaii was a U.S. territory then and became a state in 1959.

A total of 14 observed locales had received more than 40 inches of rain as of 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) during Harvey, NWS said.

The reports are preliminary, it noted. (Reporting By David Gaffen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Dan Grebler)